From left, IndyCar drivers Conor Daly and Gabby Chaves are introduced before the start of the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sunday, May 28, 2017.(Photo11: Jenna Watson/IndyStar)Buy Photo

INDIANAPOLIS – After its sterling debut at the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500, Harding Racing is returning to the Verizon IndyCar Series for this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Gabby Chaves, who finished ninth at the 500, will again be in the cockpit of Harding Racing’s No. 88 Chevrolet.

“We went into Indy with the mentality that if we got out there clean, we would try to run Texas and Pocono,” said team manager and competition director Larry Curry. “And we definitely got out of there clean.

“We were just all elated that we had the run that we had. For a new team, you figure we started putting these cars together in January. Built two brand new cars, went down and did a little shakedown test in Texas and then came to Indy and came home with a ninth-place finish.”

The plan for Harding Racing going forward, Curry said, is to join the IndyCar series full time beginning next season with Chaves behind the wheel. Chaves is currently under a two-year contract agreement with Harding Racing, which is owned by Mike Harding, who runs an Indianapolis-based concrete and asphalt paving company.

Curry said that backing up a stellar debut at Indy is priority No. 1 for Chaves and Harding Racing heading to Texas. It will be challenging, Curry concedes, with far less practice time than the team had to prepare for the 500, but he's not letting that hinder expectations.

“We're keeping our goals high, so we're going down to Texas and we definitely want to back up our top-10 finish at Indy with another top-10 run," Curry said. "If we do that, for a new team going to the first two races and end up with top 10s in both of them, I think we'd feel pretty good about it."